First and Second Language English Students in Tertiary Education: Reading and Academic Performance
Date
2006-11-01T07:25:47Z
Authors
Andor, Karen Erica
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Abstract
Previous studies have examined the issue of assessing university students and relating
their performance on the assessment measures to their academic performance in South
Africa (Butler & Van Dyk, 2004; Nel, Dreyer, & Kopper, 2004). Nel et al (2004) used a
comprehensive assessment battery whereas Butler and Van Dyk (2004) used a single test,
the ELSA-PLUS. However, there is very little research on the relationship between
reading and academic performance (Onwuebuzie, Mayes, Arthur, Johnson, Robinson,
Ashe, Elbedous & Collins, 2004). The Stanford Diagnostic Reading Test (SDRT) Blue
Level was administered to 380 first year students in the one of the schools in an English
medium university in South Africa at the beginning of 2005. 67 students volunteered to
have their results used in the study of which 22 were English second language (L2)
speakers and 43 were English first language (L1) speakers. The results showed that there
were significant differences between the L1 and L2 students, where the performance of
the L2 students was significantly weaker than that of the L1 students on the Reading
Comprehension, Vocabulary, Word Parts and Structural Analysis subtests of the SDRT.
However, it emerged that the SDRT is not a good predictive test for academic
achievement for either L1 or L2 students.
Description
Student Number : 9305365T -
MEd research report -
School of Education -
Faculty of Humanities
Keywords
academic performance, english first language, english second language, reading, SDRT, university